Abstract
Abstract In June 2021, the National Football League (NFL) shared a video in honor of LGBTQ+ History Month. In this article, I argue that this video was an attempt by the NFL to expand the organization's traditionally populist rhetoric to a more popular discourse of inclusivity and multicultural profitability. Though apparently an effort to embrace more progressive ideals, the video more accurately demonstrates a new anxiety for the NFL. With its image tarnished by major concerns regarding domestic violence, toxic masculinity, CTE testing, and a lack of awareness around issues of race, the NFL finds itself on thorny terrain. This NFL video constitutes a response to this tension—an attempt using a homonationalist strategy to bring new fans into the fold while retaining the populist rhetoric of old.
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